180: Ian Hallas on winning a Lyric Opera bass section spot, effective excerpt practicing, and routines for audition success

Ian Hallas is the newest member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago double bass section

Today’s guest is Ian Hallas, the newest member of the double bass section of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Ian successfully auditioned for Lyric in January of 2016 and joins a section with former Contrabass Conversations guests Greg Sarchet and Andrew Anderson. Ian studied with Paul Ellison at Rice University and David Allen Moore at the University of Southern California. Ian also happens to be a former student of mine!

We talk through the audition process for Lyric (number of rounds, the audition list, what he played in particular rounds), his routine in the days, weeks, and months approaching an audition, his previous auditions taken, books that have shaped his audition preparation, and advice for people embarking upon the audition trail. Enjoy!

179: Douglas Mapp on successful freelancing, life as a jazz bass professor, and ISB insider insight

International Society of Bassists president Douglas Mapp

We are featuring Douglas Mapp on today’s episode. Douglas is the current president of the International Society of Bassists and is also on faculty at Rowan University, where he is professor of jazz studies and teaches double bass. He is also extremely active as a performer, serving as principal bassist of the Reading Symphony and Assistant Principal of the Delaware Symphony and he performs regularly with some of the regions premiere ensembles including the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Philly Pops, Harrisburg Symphony, and several other groups in the area.

Douglas and I had a great chat about a wide variety of topics, including the realities of making a living as a freelancer, what makes the International Society of Bassists conventions so special, and his company douglasmappmusic, which has for 20 years been providing piano parts written in keys that fit with standard orchestral tuning. Enjoy!

About Douglas:

Bassist Douglas Mapp is at home in many styles of music ranging from classical to jazz and Broadway to contemporary classical. The list of artists that he has performed, recorded and toured with includes Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, Donnie McClurkin, Richard Smallwood, Natalie Cole, Randy Brecker, Sean Jones, Ernie Watts, Lana Del Rey, Earth Wind and Fire, R Kelly, and Jeff Majors.

He is the principal bassist of the Reading Symphony and Assistant Principal of the Delaware Symphony. He performs regularly with some of the regions premiere ensembles including the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Philly Pops, Harrisburg Symphony, and has a twenty-year tenure with the Philadelphia based new music ensemble Relâche. He has performed as substitute bassist with the Philadelphia Orchestra both at home and on tour. He has performed as a soloist with many of the groups with which he performs, including his spring 2015 performance of the Bottesin Grand Duo Concertante with the Reading Symphony.

His publishing company, Douglas Mapp Music has been helping bassists to solve the age-old dilemma of solo versus orchestra tuning for over twenty years with piano parts written in keys that fit with standard orchestral tuning. He is president-elect of the International Society of Bassists and will chair the 2015 ISB convention at Colorado State University.

Mr. Mapp is a graduate of the University of the Arts and Temple University where his primary teachers were Neil Courtney and John Hood.

Crazy Gig Stories!

We are featuring a series of crazy gig stories that I had recorded in the first phase of the podcast. I had a total blast doing these back in the day and hope to do more of these in the near future.

You’ll be hearing four of my own stories on this episode:

The last story is from podcast guest David Cardon, a fellow bassist from my time at Northwestern University. He’s a cool guy and incredibly funny, and I think that you’ll really enjoy this tale from him!

178: Useful Music Apps

Jason demonstrates the MIDI Fighter at the 2015 Illinois ASTA Teacher Enrichment Workshop

Today’s episode is a bit of a departure from the norm for us. This is a recording of a talk I did for the Illinois American String Teachers Association’s Fall Teacher Enrichment Workshop in October of 2015. I have been involved with this organization for many years and am their current state chapter president. I have done presentations like this many times in the past (you can find them in the archives of Contrabass Conversations). I cover all sorts of music apps for iOS and Android that I use in my own practicing and teaching, and I think that listeners will discover some useful tools by listening to this presentation.

I recorded this talk on my iPad, and I actually use the iPad for a few parts of the talk, so you will hear some audio strangeness from time to time as I pick up and manipulate the iPad. I also demo a device called the MIDI Fighter using a piece of software called Ableton Live, and again, you’ll hear me kind of banging away at this device as I talk, so that’s what’s going on at the end of the talk.

Here’s a link to a video of the MIDI Fighter in action–it’s an interesting device!

177: Bruce Bransby on principal bassist roles, life in the Indiana University bass studio, and optimizing bass gear

Indiana University double bass professor Bruce Bransby

We are featuring Bruce Bransby on today’s show. Bruce has been professor of double bass at Indiana University for three decades and has taught bass players who now hold positions in major orchestras worldwide. Bruce has also been a faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival for this same length of time. Prior to that, he served as principal bass of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Kansas City Symphony.

Bruce is also an outstanding soloist, composer, and arranger, and you’ll be hearing an excerpt from his arrangement of the Valentini Cello Sonata at the beginning of the episode, and we’ll conclude today with Bruce’s own Valse for double bass and piano, which he composed under the pseudonym Rolande E. Curb (Curb is Bruce spelled backwards).

We feature more music from Bruce in the bonus content for this episode, and you can access that material from the Contrabass Conversations app. Just click on this episode and choose ‘bonus.’These compositions and arrangements can be purchased from Lemur Music (Theme, Prelude, and Valentini links) or the String Emporium website. Enjoy, and check out this link to learn more about the Performer Diploma in Orchestral Studies offered by the Jacobs School–most graduate double bass students are choosing this option at IU.

About Bruce:

Bruce Bransby was principal double bass with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1978-1986) under Zubin Mehta, Carlo Maria Giulini, and Andre Previn, and was principal double bass with the Kansas City Symphony (1971-1978). He studied with Nat Gangursky, Peter Mercurio, and Stuart Sankey.

Professor Bransby performs widely as soloist and chamber player and has premiered numerous works, including several concertos for the double bass. While in Los Angeles, he was active in studio recordings for motion pictures and television.

He was a faculty member at California State University Northridge, the University of Missouri at Kansas City, the California Music Center, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, and has been a performing member of the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival since 1987. His students hold positions in many of the world’s finest symphony orchestras.